


Ten Minutes Ahead

by stalltherain



Series: Ones You Love [3]
Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Angst, Canon Universe, Character Death, Crying, Drama, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Forehead Touching, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Holding Hands, Hurt/Comfort, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 08:00:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25719964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stalltherain/pseuds/stalltherain
Summary: A rescue attempt to 2012. Five years after he made the trip, Lucy finds Flynn, but the rescue doesn't go as planned. (Part 3/7)
Relationships: Garcia Flynn/Lucy Preston
Series: Ones You Love [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1849153
Comments: 9
Kudos: 31





	Ten Minutes Ahead

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING: CHARACTER DEATH. Description beyond shown in canon.
> 
> Thanks to SetFiresJust2WatchThemBurn for beta.

Lucy’s feet land in the dirt a quarter-mile from the Flynn family home. She steps away from the lifeboat as the door closes and the crisscrossed metal rings spin until the familiar whirring fills her ears. The time machine whooshes away from 2012 with a gust of air, taking Rufus and Jiya a short ten-minute jump into the future. After the ill effects the time overlap left on Jiya the last jump, they'll have to meet Lucy once she's rescued Flynn from his fatal trip to his own past.

A few trees and green shrubs dot the brush-covered lot. Suburban lights glow in the distance, peeking through the hills around the undeveloped piece of land. A narrow paved road bordered by guardrails lies several yards away. As Lucy makes her way toward it, only the moon and distant lights keep the field from being cast in pitch darkness.

The night is silent except Lucy’s feet on the pavement as she jogs toward a patch of houses in the distance. The cool air is a relief from the sweat building on her forehead. When she nears the residences, she slips into a brisk walk. The street is empty.

At an intersection, Lucy stops at the curb and pulls a torn-out piece of the map from her pocket to confirm her route. After checking the prototype chip on her neck that allows her an extended stay in this time is still secure, she sets off navigating her way to Flynn’s street. She slows when the numbers on the curb approach the address she memorized. 

The countdown takes her to a waist-high brick wall that surrounds Flynn's yard. Overhead, the leaves of two eucalyptus trees cast a shadow, keeping her in darkness. As she makes her approach along the fence line, she scans the outside of the house. No sign of Flynn. Lucy keeps following the wall and reads a metal sign with his last name on the driveway entrance. A shoulder-high rounded lantern sits atop the sign. Near its base, a series of footlights dot the sides of the driveway leading up to the house. Inside, the first-floor lights are on. Lucy stays under the trees, past the fence and behind the lamp, keeping out of sight as she studies the area around the house. She searches the street in both directions. No sign of the man she came to find.

The faint sound of a woman’s laughter travels through the air, followed by a little girl's giggle. It’s trailed by a deeper chuckle. Then a man’s voice. Lucy freezes. With one hand, she braces herself on the lamp in front of her. She can’t make out the words, but Flynn’s voice is unmistakable.

Her eyes fix on the window at the front door. From this distance, the beveled patterns in the glass prevent her from seeing inside, but she can distinguish outlines of two figures moving within the light. Lucy drifts forward like a moth. She watches the taller figure travel left out of view. Her legs mindlessly guide her out of the shadows. She tracks the figure’s route and sees his shadow re-emerge in the glow of the kitchen window.

"Daddy, there’s a lady here!"

A girls’ voice -- Iris’s voice -- breaks the trance. Lucy halts, jolted by the realization that she’s standing in the middle of Flynn’s driveway. Her eyes dart to the front door then return to the kitchen window. She keeps searching the length of the building then stops much further to the right. A girl’s face, topped with a halo of blond curls, peers over the back of a sofa in the living room window. 

Lucy whirls on her heel to retreat. She only takes a few steps before a voice she hasn’t heard in two years stops her in her tracks.

"Can I help you?"

Lucy isn’t prepared for the wave his voice crashes down on her. Her arms are like lead weights; her heart squeezes in her chest. She wavers then steadies herself as she inhales a breath.

When she faces him, the man in front of her is a version of Flynn she’s never seen. He’s nothing like the man who held her at gunpoint when they met. Nothing like the devastated man in São Paulo who registered more like a stranger to her. Neither is he the man she knew, weighted down with grief and guilt. This man is almost buoyant. This Garcia Flynn is unmistakably happy.

While he isn’t the man she replays in her memories, there's something about him that’s unmistakably familiar. Her eyes explore his face, seeking a memory that lies just out of reach.

_His smile._

In all the years since she’d last seen him, Lucy had forgotten Flynn’s smile. She’d rarely experienced it, but there had been glimpses of this man. Glimpses as they celebrated saving a blues singer over drinks. As he teased her about sleeping in his bed, covering his face with his hand when he embarrassed himself with his own joke. 

It seems like another lifetime.

The smile slips from his face. He tilts his head and takes a step forward. "Are you okay?"

Lucy feels her face flush warm as she realizes she must have been staring for an uncomfortably long time.

"I… uh..." She stuffs her hands in her jeans pockets. Her eyes dart around the driveway. "I was... uh... looking for my... my friend’s house." I thought this was it, but…" She raises her hands in an exaggerated shrug. "But obviously it’s not!" She finishes with a hushed snort.

His shoulders relax. Lucy exhales, relieved that she managed to be at least semi-believable. Or maybe just disarmingly pitiful.

"Maybe I know where it is. What’s the address?"

Lucy raises her hand to refuse. Instead, she winces and closes her eyes as a sharp stab radiates through her right temple. Although the chip on her neck is keeping away excruciating pain, maybe the device doesn’t work that flawlessly. When the ache subsides, Lucy blinks Flynn back into focus and hopes the lights are too dim for him to notice her reaction. They're not.

He leans forward and asks, "Are you alright?"

She waves him away. "I’m fine. Just a… uh... migraine." She takes a step behind her and stumbles on a slightly raised brick. She wobbles then rights herself. "I should go. I’m so sorry to impose."

"It's no trouble. You don’t seem to be in a condition to be alone outside in the dark." He takes one step down from the porch.

"Daddy!" Iris stands just inside the open door. 

He focuses his attention on his daughter, and Lucy takes the opportunity to retreat another step.

"Mommy said it’s your turn to set the table."

The adoration in his voice is unmistakable as he replies to his daughter. "Tell her I’ll be there in a few minutes. I need to help the nice lady first."

When Flynn turns to her, Lucy stops him before he has the chance to speak. "No, thank you, though." She holds up her hands in front of herself. "I appreciate the offer, but I’ll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." She takes another step backward. "I’ve taken too much of your time. Please, go have dinner with your family."

He hesitates then bows his head. "Good night."

When he turns his back, Lucy knows she should leave. She should get out of his driveway as quickly as possible. Leave before she does anything that will screw up the timeline -- assuming she hasn’t already. There’s no telling what damage might be done if future Flynn recognizes her as that strange woman who showed up in his driveway the night Wyatt’s wife was killed. 

Yet... Her feet won’t move. She can’t bring herself to stop watching Flynn walk away. She fights the urge to call him to come back.

She continues staring at the door far too long after it clicks shut behind him.

"Lucy?"

She jumps at the raspy voice that comes out of the darkness. When she whirls, a tall, dark-haired figure is steadying himself on the lamp at the end of the driveway. He's dressed exactly as he had been when she’d last seen him five years ago - black overcoat, gray pants, and cowboy boots, but the difference in his appearance now is startling. On the ride to Sutter’s Mill, he had looked ruggedly sophisticated. Now his clothes are disheveled. His coat is covered in dust. His lip is split, and dried blood darkens his mouth and nose.

"Oh my god!"

Lucy rushes to Flynn. She slips her arm around his waist, and he nearly falls onto her. She manages not to topple beneath his weight. He regains his balance enough that she’s able to lower him to the grass. Flynn sighs at the respite the cool ground provides. His eyelids slide closed, and his head drops back to rest against the brick.

Lucy ignores the dull ache building behind her eyes.

"How… How are you here?" He blinks through blurred double vision at the ethereal face above him. "Am I hallucinating?"

"It’s okay, Garcia." Her fingers brush the hair off his forehead. "I’m here to take you home."

He chuckles, which morphs into a curt howl as the act causes burning agony behind his eyes. When the pain subsides, his lips form a wry smile. "You are a hallucination. Lucy never calls me Garcia."

Lucy can’t help beaming back as she kneels next to him. She’s missed Flynn.

"Hallucination or not, I’m still bringing you home."

Her hands tremble as she fumbles in her pocket. She pulls out a small disk. It slips from her unsteady fingers and bounces to the ground. She braces her hand on his shoulder and leans across his body to grab it from where it came to rest. She sits on her heels and takes the chip in one hand. Just as she’d done to activate her own, she presses it with the thumb of her other hand.

"What’s that?" Flynn blinks deliberately, struggling to focus.

"Something Rufus and Jiya made to help." Lucy continues to try to activate it. The blue light still isn’t lit up. She presses it again. "If the damn thing would turn on!" She presses it a fourth time, but still, nothing happens. "No!" She throws the device to the ground, forgetting that Denise won’t like the loss of time travel technology.

"What’s wrong?" He touches her hand like he’s forgotten that he’s the one who needs rescuing, not her.

A tear escapes down her cheek. Her voice wavers. "It doesn’t work."

He pats her hand. "It’s okay, Lucy."

He pulls away from her then places both hands in the grass and pushes himself up. He wobbles. Lucy stands and reaches to steady him. He waves her away, opting instead to leverage the wall to push himself into a half-sitting position. 

"Go. Leave me here. I just need to see my family."

She clenches her jaw and shakes her head. "No. I’m taking you home."

"Lucy, this _is_ my home."

She steps forward. "Not anymore."

He doubles over and winces against a searing blaze radiating throughout his head, overtaking his skull and grinding it with broken glass. Lucy pulls the chip off the back of her neck, steps forward, and sticks it onto Flynn’s temple. 

Her face is even with his as he leans against the brick wall. "Please, Flynn. Come with me." Suddenly, Lucy’s dull ache creeps into a sharp needle in her right eye then a high pitch hum in her ears. She rubs her temple and closes her eyes. When she opens them, Flynn is reaching for the device she just placed on his head. 

Tears form at the corners of his bloodshot eyes. "I’m not worth it. Just save yourself."

Lucy grasps his hand before he can pluck the chip free. She pierces his eyes with her own and wraps his hand in hers. "I’m not leaving you." She blinks and swallows the lump in her throat as her voice wavers. "So either you come with me, and we both get out of here, or you don't, and we both die here."

He leans forward until his forehead rests against hers. Lucy squeezes his hand tighter. "Okay, Lucy," he whispers. Flynn leans back from her and withdraws his hand, reaching for the chip on his temple. "But you have to put this back on."

Lucy starts to object, but Flynn cuts her off.

"You need it." He considers her with a knowing half-smile. "You’re the only one who knows how to get us to the ship." He pulls the device off his temple, pushes Lucy’s hair back with his free hand, and places it on her skin. Lucy wants to tell him she’ll be fine, that he needs it more than her. But as his hand lingers in her hair, she meets his eyes and knows that he isn’t willing to let her take that chance.

She steps back and pulls him away from the wall. "We’ll take turns." She isn’t willing to let him go either.

When they get past the houses and onto the deserted road, Lucy stops. Against his protests, she places the chip on Flynn’s forehead. Following the road leads directly to the pick-up spot, so there’s no reason they can’t both find it together. As they continue along the empty pavement, Lucy’s vision blurs. Flynn's feet keep moving, but his eyelids repeatedly drift closed. She stumbles on a loose rock. He manages to stop her fall despite his unsteadiness.

"It's okay," Lucy assures herself as much as him, ignoring the ringing in her ears. "You made it to the beach. You can make it back to the lifeboat."

He exhales sharply. "Lucy, do I look like I've been to a beach?"

Lucy’s jaw slackens, and her eyes go wide. "Oh… I meant… We… Uh..." She swallows hard. "Agent Christopher found your… um..." Not something she meant to bring up. Her eyes track back and forth across the ground, searching for an alternative to the word. "Police found a John Doe on a beach ten miles from here."

His brow furrows but after a few seconds, he chuckles almost inaudibly. "Wow. I should have thought of that."

"Of what?"

Headlights illuminate the sky from around a curve ahead. Lucy guides Flynn off the road into the shadows, out of sight of the oncoming vehicle. The ringing in her ears intensifies.

"I had no plans to wander the beach, Lucy, even if I was in shape to make it that far." He leans forward, bracing his hands on his knees. "If you hadn’t come, I’d probably have gone somewhere remote, not a beach where kids might play." He rubs his temple. "I contracted for the NSA. They would have gotten an alert when local police ran my prints."

Lucy follows his train of thought. "Rittenhouse knew there were two of you. It meant their time machine would eventually work, so they covered it up." Lucy grits her teeth against a wave of dizziness and blurred vision. Through the fog, she struggles to comprehend how that could have affected the timeline or why it wouldn’t have. Had that been why his family was killed? Certainly not. Not if that’s what started the whole chain. "But nothing changed."

"I guess it was too risky to kill me right away." He peers up at her with a raised eyebrow. "That’s what happens when I try to play cowboy. I come up with terrible plans."

The headlights move past then she slips her arm around Flynn's waist. "Come on."

As they arrive at the pick-up spot, Flynn stumbles across the dirt, supported by Lucy. His breaths are rasped and labored. The whites of his eyes are deep red, and blood flows from his nose.

Lucy helps lower him against a tree. She kneels, one hand on his shoulder while the other wipes blood away with the bottom of her shirt. When she’s finished, she sits by his side. "Rufus, we’re ready for that pick up any time," she says into the empty air.

"Rufus is alive?"

"Yeah." She leans into him. "You saved him."

A smile creeps onto his lips then slips away. "I’m sorry, Lucy. I didn’t mean for you to come here." He reaches for her and takes her hand. "I wanted you to be happy... to have a family."

"I know." Lucy laces her fingers through his. "You told me."

"You got my letter?" He lulls his head toward her.

She tilts her head to look into his eyes. "I did."

His lips curl upward as he rests his head against the tree. "How embarrassing for me." 

She smiles. 

His eyelids slip closed.

"Hey, hey, hey." She brushes his cheek with her free hand.

His eyes blink open. "Thank you, Lucy," he says through heavy breaths. "For coming back for me."

She rests her head on his shoulder. "I had to." She squeezes his hand. "I'd never be happy if I left you here." 

He leans his head onto hers. "You don't need me to be happy."

"Yes, I do." A tear slips from her eye.

Flynn doesn’t respond. The sound of his breathing fades, and his grasp on her hand loosens.

Lucy scrambles to her knees. "No, no, no, no, no." She cups his face in her hands. "Garcia!" He doesn't move. "Please, no. Please..."

Her head drops onto his forehead. Tears slide from her cheeks into his hair. Her briefly held ground breaks away; her soul plummets. Falling through an abyss. Instead of saving him, she'd robbed him of his chance to see his family one last time. Is it hopeless? Is his death an inevitable constant the universe is fighting to keep unchanged? 

Lucy rocks back and forth with her arms around Flynn. She doesn't hear the whoosh of the lifeboat arriving or notice the dust stirring past. She doesn’t hear Rufus calling her name from the lifeboat door. Doesn’t notice him climb out or hear the sound of footsteps behind her.

She jumps when she feels a hand on her shoulder.

"Lucy..." His voice holds the hint of a question.

She slowly shakes her head.

Rufus scrubs his face with his hand. He watches Lucy in silence before his focus returns to the lifeboat. Jiya doesn’t have time to spare.

"I’m sorry. We have to go."

Lucy swallows and wipes her eyes. She tenderly strokes Flynn’s hair as she pulls the small silver chip off his temple. She plants a gentle kiss on his head before rising to her feet. With one hand in a fist, she walks past Rufus, plumes of dust swirling at her feet.

If the universe wants to take Garcia Flynn, Lucy intends to give it a fight.

"We’re going to find another way."


End file.
